Pharmacy Education in Bangladesh

Pharmacy Education The education and training of pharmacists should be based on their attainment of educational objectives that correspond to the professional tasks relevant to the country concerned and to their roles, functions and responsibilities in health teams. The learning experiences, and the methods of evaluating the knowledge, skill and attitudes involved in satisfactory practice performance, must be relevant to the components of professional competence. The design and management of the curriculum should apply the curricular principles of continuity sequence and integration so that students may a progressively master the necessary professional skills at the expected levels of performance, by their repeated performance at increasingly complex levels. To maintain the relevance of undergraduate education to changing patterns of practice, curricula should be kept under regular review by academic pharmacists, together with pharmacists from all aspects of practice and other concerned parties, such as health administrators and specialists in curriculum management and evaluation. In common with most health professional education pharmacy education programmes while often indicating the relevance of topics to practice need to do more towards helping students achieve competence in the application of knowledge in practice; this would involve the linking of knowledge's, skill and attitudes in professional problem solving. Course in pharmacy law, ethics and practices make a vital contribution to the role of pharmacists in the rational use of drugs and in the prevention and management of drug abuse. Traditionally, pharmaceutical courses have been divided into four subject areas namely pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmacognosy and pharmacology and schools of pharmacy have been organized accordingly. However, the academic foundation for pharmacy practices demands and integrated approach to the teaching of those four traditional subjects. This can be encouraged by designing the course to include the three elements of pharmaceutical science described below. This would mean the integration of substantial parts of the teaching in each of the three subject areas with corresponding parts in the others. By doing so, schools of pharmacy would enable students to a ppreciate more readily the relevance of the pharmaceutical sciences to the practice of pharmacy. Chemical and Physical Properties of Drugs The structure and properties of chemical substances of natural and synthetic origin used in medicine, their relevant stereo? chemistry and biological activities relevant physico ?chemical aspects, including chemical kinetics and thermodynamics; quality control by physical,, chemical and biological techniques. Pharmaceutical Aspects of Medicines Physical and physicochemical properties of substances used in medicine and their application in the formulation and production of medicinal products; the influence of formulation on the biological availability of substances; the evaluation of products and pharmaceutical processes with particular reference to uniformity, quality and stability of products; the principals of sterilisation and of aseptic procedures; immunological products microbiological aspects of the contamination and preservation of pharmaceutical products; radio ?pharmaceutical surgical dressings; the dispensing and storage of medicines. The Action and Uses of Drugs and Medicines Human and mammalian physiology and biochemistry as a basis for the understanding of the pharmacology of drugs. It should include experimental pharmacology and biological methods of measurement of activity; chemical, physical, biochemical and biological aspects of the action of drugs in man and animals; plant biology in relation to natural sources of drugs and medicines and in relation to pesticides; microbiology in relation to immunology, disease and chemotherapy; the presentation, use and adverse reactions of drugs and medicines, including some opportunities to observe and study the clinical effects of drugs on diseases an understanding of the principals of disease processes; medical terminology; sources of information on drugs and medicines. The emphasis placed on the topics included in these three elements of the degree course will vary with educational needs, objectives, resources, and developments in health care, but the three elements should receive approximately the same emphasis. However, the growing importance of the pharmacists role in promoting the rational use of drugs by patients and in advising other health processionals must be reflected in the teaching of pathology and therapeutics related to both community and hospital pharmacy. A fourth element in the pharmacy course should deal with national legislation related to pharmacy, and introduce the subject of international control mechanisms. A specialised part of the course should be devoted to professional ethics, which should at the same time permeate the entire course. While the entire course should be seen to be relevant to practices there should be two units or modules devoted to the rational use of drugs and the prevention of misuse and abuse, and to the application of pharmaceutical sciences to aspects of practice. Additionally pharmacy students should be made aware of their countries general health policies and strategies, particularly for the control of their principal public health problems such as malaria leprosy tuberculosis and AIDS and for the care of mothers and children, including family planning. In relation to all aspects of the pharmacy programs there should be a module dealing with the general principles of the rational use of drugs. This should be introduced early in the undergraduate programs and should be designed to introduce early in the undergraduate program and should be designed to introduce students to the basic competencies ? the clusters of knowledge, attitudes and skills for performing the pharmacist's several role related to the rational use of drugs, including advising physicians and patients, monitoring of prescribing reporting of adverse drug reactions, advising on drug interactions in relation to individual patients and within national schemes and the training of other health professionals. These basic competencies should be gradually expanded and strengthened throughout the remainder of the course. Independent reviews of pharmacy in recent years, including the Nuffield Foundation inquiry into pharmacy in the United Kingdom (2) have highlighted the advisory role of the pharmacist vis?avis health professionals and patients. Many schools have introduced course on interpersonal and communication skills. All schools need to introduce modules dealing with the principles of communication written and oral and providing for learning and evaluation methods by which students may acquire and develop these skills An understanding of national pharmaceutical legislation and of its underlying philosophy will continue to be an important objective of pharmacy programs. In the context of international control, all students should learn the concept of and appreciate the reasons for international control mechanisms. More important, however, undergraduate education must at all times inculcate high standards of professional conduct. This will ensure that pharmacists can supplement the minimum legal requirements by standards of conducts which ensure that the greatest possible help and protection is given to the public in relation to the supply and use of drugs. A satisfactory standard of pharmaceutical education which is a prerequisite for a satisfactory pharmaceutical service to satisfy legitimate public needs, depends upon a sufficiency of suitably qualified academic staff, and an adequate provision of equipment, text books and other learning materials. Government strategies should provide for, and give priority to, these resources, as they are the foundation of the pharmacist's contribution to the cost?effective use of quality medicines. The pharmacy council, pharmacy board, or the registration authority, should be involved in establishing acceptable minimum standards for the structure, facilities and curricula of schools of pharmacy. Pharmacy Education in Bangladesh The education in Pharmacy was first introduced in the country in 1964 with the establishment of the Department of Pharmacy in the University of Dhaka. Recently the Department has been expanded to a Faculty comprising of three new Departments. For about 25 years the Dhaka University had been the only institution offering Pharmacy courses until establishment of a "Pharmacy Section" in Jahangirnagar University. The Section was expanded to a full?fledged Department within a few years of its establishment. Until now, there are four public universities and five private universities offering the undergraduate courses in Pharmacy. The public universities are Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University, Rajshahai University and Khulna University. Among the private universities, University of Science & Technology, Chittagong and Asia Pacific University have conferred the degree of Bachelor of Pharmacy to a few batches of their students. The other private universities have started academic activities within last couple of years. Pharmacy Education in Public Universities ( Accreditation ) Sl. Name Location Estd of Pharmacy Department Approved No of Seats 1. University of Dhaka Dhaka 1964 70/Yr go 2. Jahangirnagar University Savar 1985 55/Yr go 3. University of Khulna Khulna 37/Yr go 4. University of Rajshahi Rajshahi 1993 45/Yr go Pharmacy Education in Private Universities ( Provisional Accreditation ) Sl. Name Location Estd of Pharmacy Department Approved No of Seats 1. University of Science and Technology, Chittagong Chittagong 1994 50/semester go 2. The University of Asia Pacific Dhaka 1996 50/semester go 3. Gono Biswabiddyalay Savar 1998 50/semester go 4. Stamford University Dhaka 2003 50/semester go 5. Manarat University Dhaka 2003 50/semester go 6. State University of Bangladesh Dhaka 2003 50/semester go 7. East-West University Dhaka 2003 50/semester go 8. Northern University Dhaka 2003 50/semester go 9. Southeast University Dhaka 2003 50/semester go 10. University of Development Alternative Dhaka 2002 50/semester go 11. Primeasia University Dhaka 2003 50/semester go 12. Northsouth University Dhaka 2005 50/semester go 13. Bangladesh University Dhaka 50/semester go 14. Atish Dipankar University of Science and Technology (ADUST) Dhaka 50/semester go 15. Dhaka International University Dhaka 2006 50/semester go 16. BGC Trust University of Bangladesh Chittagong 2006 50/semester go 17. International Islamic University, Chittagong Chittagong 2006 50/semester go 18. Southern University Bangladesh Chittagong 2006 50/semester go Universities that have got primary approval Sl. Name Location Estd of Pharmacy Department Approved No of Seats 1. Daffodil International University Dhaka 25/semester 2. Noakhali Science and Technology University Noakhali 50/Yr 3 World University of Bangladesh Dhaka 50/semester